X3 Over Texas

The Eurocopter X3 has kicked off it’s US demonstration tour in the skies over Texas. I understand the design just fine, but it still looks weird to me. In a production design I think they’d need to relocate the propellers; in their current location they really restrict approach and departure routes for passengers. You can really only come in from the aft quarters to avoid the props, and the risk of a wayward person wandering into a prop would be a lot higher than with a tail rotor. There’s also going to be some noise management to handle with the props right next to the passengers. That’s one thing Sikorsky’s X2 coaxial design has going for it; it is intended to use a single pusher prop at the end of the tail, well away from the passenger cabin.